It’s clear that children start to learn from the moment that they are born. Physical development, understanding communication, and growing social skills are heavily focused upon at the earliest stages of a child’s life. However, when is it best to start a child on their academic career?

Preschool is quickly being recognized as one of the most important factors in a young child’s development. Studies show that children who do not attend any sort of early education are less likely to be accepted to college or attain higher degrees. The simple fact is that preschools enable children to learn more, learn better, and have a leg up on starting their education. What should one be looking for in the best preschool?

Fun Becomes Educational

Young children tend to have short attention spans, so finding a preschool program with an array of different projects and exercises is key. Things such as playing games, finger painting, singing songs, and listening to storybooks help children to start to develop their skill set early. The more diverse the activities are, the more varied the child’s abilities will be. Even playground games have been shown to improve the motor function development in preschool children.

A is for Academics

The younger you are, the better you are at absorbing a large amounts of information. In a study done with close to 15,000 kindergartners, subjects who had attended some sort of preschool or early education centers tended to score higher in both math and reading. This is because the more time children spend in preschools, the more they improve their memory and language skills. The best preschool will emphasize learning numerals, counting, recognizing shapes, and learning the letters of the alphabet. These small steps ensure that children are finding the building blocks to get ahead when they start kindergarten.

Private Means More Money, But More Value.

The word about preschools is spreading quickly. Currently 80% of pre-kindergartners are enrolled in a preschool or early education program. In order to gain an advantage, private preschools are a good way of making sure your child receives extra attention. The best preschools, as such, often have much lower class numbers, ensuring that the teacher is intimately acquainted with your child’s needs and skills. Additionally, private schools encourage parental involvement on a higher level, so you are kept aware of your child’s development, and help them to achieve more. Furthermore, children in private preschools are statistically more likely to attend college later in life.